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Samantha Atlee
Element project
10 October 2016
Nitrogen .
Nitrogen My element was discovered in 1772, by Daniel Rutherford. Daniel Rutherford
was a Scottish physician, chemist botanist, he was most famous for discovering the element I’m
going to tell you about and that is Nitrogen. Now, Nitrogen has many compounds. It is found in
rain, soil, and salt water; in rain, nitrogen is known as ammonia and soils and seawater as
ammonium, but in salt water also as nitrate.
Nitrogen also has many more compounds. The importance of Nitrogen’s compounds
depends on the type of nitrogen they contain. Examples include; nitrogen oxide compounds are
known for its explosive natures, and can be mixed with other chemicals to make laughing gas. It
is also used to conserve egg, blood, sperm. ect., and is also starting to to be used in place of
carbon dioxide in some applications. Nitrogen is found in military aircraft fuel, steel production,
also in high voltage equipment, it’s used in liquid explosives to keep them from from exploding
during transportation and storage. The element is also present in living organisms such as plants,
animals, and people. It’s part of the building blocks of protein. And one of the most important
things is that nitrogen allows plants to change sunlight into energy. Plants do not actually absorb
it, it is changed into a compound so plants can soak it in. The transformation is called the
Nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen also is used in controlling pollution, because of it’s effectiveness in
getting rid of unstable organic compounds in liquids. Liquid Nitrogen also helps in some

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people's lives because it is used to treat warts and other skin diseases. Pure nitrogen also is very
dangerous in gas form because it can blow up at room temperature.
Nitrogen is part of our atmosphere, it makes up ⅘of our atmosphere. This element is
very important and necessary in our lives. Just in case these aren’t enough reasons why we need
it in our lives, here are a few more examples. First, I don’t like rotting food, and I think many
will agree with me. Nitrogen mixed with carbon dioxide is used to preserve food and less
harmful than oxygen which damages your food. Second, many believe if you fill your car tires
with nitrogen gas instead of air, you get a smoother ride. Don’t you want a nice car ride? Third,
if you have a skin disease than you are in luck, because nitrogen is used to treat warts and other
skin diseases.
In summary we have seen many ways that nitrogen is useful and even necessary in our
lives. Nitrogen forms the majority of our atmosphere, and is found in our in our soil, our oceans,
and in rain. Nitrogen is crucial to plants, animals, and humans; it can even be used to preserve
our food.
In medicine, nitrogen is used as a preservative for organic materials such as blood and
semen; it is used to sedate people ( nitrous oxide or “laughing gas”) and to cure skin diseases
such as warts. In industry, nitrogen is used in fuels, explosives, steel production, electrical
applications, and even to limit pollution.
Obviously nitrogen is a very useful and important element!!

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Name; Nitrogen
Symbol: N
Atomic #: 7
Atomic mass: 14.007 amu
Isotopes: 16
Electron Configuration: 1s2
Year discovered: 1772
Discoverer: Daniel Rutherford